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וילךParshat Vayeilech

Deuteronomy 31:1-30

A note: this is a creative reading, a drash offered as a way into the text. It does not claim to be what the angels actually say.

Begin on the ground

Rung 1 of 8

The story

What happens, plainly.

Moshe goes and speaks to all Israel. He is a hundred and twenty years old today, he says; he can no longer go out and come in, and Hashem has told him he will not cross the Jordan. In front of everyone he tells Yehoshua to be strong and brave, because Hashem goes before him and will not leave him. Moshe writes down this Torah and gives it to the kohanim who carry the Ark and to the elders, and commands that at the end of every seventh year, at Sukkot, the whole people gather, men, women, children and strangers, to hear it read. Hashem calls Moshe and Yehoshua to the Tent of Meeting and appears there in a pillar of cloud. He tells Moshe that after his death the people will stray and He will hide His face, so Moshe must write a song and teach it, and it will answer them as a witness, because it will not be forgotten from the mouths of their children. Moshe writes the song that day and teaches it, finishes writing the Torah in a book, has the Levites place it beside the Ark, and speaks the words of the song to the whole congregation.

Rung 2 of 8

Ein Yaakov

What the sages of the Talmud saw.

Two students visit Rabbi Yehoshua in Peki'in, and he asks what new thing was taught in the study house. That Shabbat Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah had spoken on the gathering: "Assemble the people, the men, the women and the children." The men came to learn and the women came to listen, but why were the children brought? To give a reward to those who bring them. Rabbi Yehoshua said: "You had a good pearl in your hands, and you wanted to keep it from me."

Chagigah 3aEin Yaakov (Glick Edition), Khagigah 1:3

Rabbah teaches that even if a person's ancestors left him a Torah scroll, it is a mitzvah for him to write one of his own, because the verse says "Now write for yourselves this song." The same passage says a king writes two scrolls, one kept in his treasury and one he carries with him wherever he goes.

Sanhedrin 21bEin Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sanhedrin 2:14

Rung 3 of 8

The Zohar

The mystical reading.

The Zohar opens on the word "went": Aharon had died, and Aharon was the right arm of Israel (the right side is , lovingkindness, in the usual kabbalistic reading; the Zohar here says only "right"). So Moshe goes now like a body without its arm. While Moshe lived, Israel ate bread from heaven; when Yehoshua came, they ate the produce of the land. Moshe was the sun and Yehoshua the moon. In the usual reading the moon stands for , the sefirah that receives and has no light of its own; the Zohar here speaks only of sun and moon. Hashem tells Moshe the moon cannot rule while the sun is still high, so the sun must be gathered in; yet even after it sets it still gives light to the moon, and that is the charge Yehoshua receives. Rabbi Shimon then reads the song: the most complete praise rises from below to above, draws blessing back down from above to below, and ties the two together in the knot of faith. And Amen, the Zohar says, draws the blessings from the Source to the King and from the King to the Matrona, the , so whoever answers Amen with his whole heart opens doors of blessing in every world.

Touch a lit word to find it on the tree.

KeterChochmahBinahChesedGevurahTiferetNetzachHodYesodMalchut

Rung 4 of 8

The numbers

The letters stop being words.

  1. Moshe

    משה

    Moshe equals 345

    = א־ל ש־די El Sha‑ddai

    Shenei Luchot HaBerit, Torah Shebikhtav, Mishpatim, Torah Ohr 115

    "I am a hundred and twenty years old today."

  2. Yehoshua

    יהושע

    Yehoshua equals 391

    No confident match yet.

    Yehoshua and yeshuah, salvation, are the same letters rearranged and both come to 391; we have not found a source that pairs them.

  3. Hakhel, gather

    הקהל

    Hakhel, gather equals 140

    No confident match yet.

  4. Shirah, song

    שירה

    Shirah, song equals 515

    = תפלה tefillah, prayer

    Sefer HaKanah 27:4

    The verse says hashirah, "the song"; this is the word without the article.

  5. Haster, hide

    הסתר

    Haster, hide equals 665

    No confident match yet.

    "I will surely hide My face."

  6. Aron, the Ark

    ארון

    Aron, the Ark equals 257

    No confident match yet.

    The finished book is set beside it.

Every value is computed from the Hebrew letters by code: aleph is 1, yud is 10, kuf is 100, tav is 400, and final letters keep their ordinary value. A match appears only when it is well known. Nothing is invented.

Rung 5 of 8

The angel's telling

The story as the angels tell it.

1:08

The one who carried the Name that says Enough walked out among the people one more time. He was old, and his legs had done their work. "I can't go out and come in anymore," he said. "Someone else will take you across."

He called the one who would lead after him to stand in front of everyone. "Be strong," he said. "Don't be afraid. You won't go first. He goes ahead of you."

Then he wrote everything down and gave it to the ones who carried the Ark. At the end of the year of release, at the festival of booths, bring everyone, he said. Bring the men and the women and the stranger in your gates, and bring the little children, even the ones too small to understand.

In the tent the cloud came down, and the Name told him the hard part. "After you lie down with your fathers they will wander, and I will hide My face. When the troubles come, they will say I have gone."

"So write them a Prayer," the Name said. "Put it in their mouths. It won't be forgotten from their children's mouths, and when they think I have gone, the Prayer will still be there, speaking."

He wrote the Prayer that same day and taught it. He set the book beside the Ark, and he spoke the Prayer to everyone gathered, to the very end. A face can be hidden. A prayer in a child's mouth goes wherever the child goes.

Rung 6 of 8

The angel sages debate

Four angels argue over their Torah.

Michael from kindness

“Shirah is 515, the same as tefillah, prayer. Before the hiding has even begun, the answer is already in their mouths. The gift comes first.”

Gavriel from strength

“Haster is 665, and it matches nothing; hiding has no other name. And Moshe is 345, El Sha‑ddai, the One who set limits on the world, and today he has reached his own: he can no longer go out and come in.”

Raphael from healing

“Moshe stops at the Jordan, and Yehoshua, 391, goes on. Between them stands the Ark, 257, and beside it the book Moshe finished writing. The man who cannot cross sends his words over with the one who can, so the limit and the gift travel together.”

Uriel from light

“From above there is no hiding without a song to find it. Haster is 665 and shirah is 515, and the song was written on the same day the hiding was told. The face turns away, and the prayer is already waiting in the children's mouths to turn it back.”

They stand where the bedtime Shema places them: Michael on the right, Gavriel on the left, Uriel ahead, Raphael behind.

Rung 7 of 8

The spaces

Raziel reads the white.

Vayeilech has two open spaces and one closed space in 30 verses.

  • Closed after Deuteronomy 31:6
  • Open after Deuteronomy 31:13
  • Open after Deuteronomy 31:30, the end of the parsha

From Sefaria's text of the Torah according to the Masorah. An open space (petuchah) leaves the rest of the line empty; a closed space (setumah) is a gap inside the line.

וילך משה וידבר את הדברים האלה אל כל ישראל ויאמר אלהם בן מאה ועשרים שנה אנכי היום לא אוכל עוד לצאת ולבוא ויהוה אמר אלי לא תעבר את הירדן הזה יהוה אלהיך הוא עבר לפניך הוא ישמיד את הגוים האלה מלפניך וירשתם יהושע הוא עבר לפניך כאשר דבר יהוה ועשה יהוה להם כאשר עשה לסיחון ולעוג מלכי האמרי ולארצם אשר השמיד אתם ונתנם יהוה לפניכם ועשיתם להם ככל המצוה אשר צויתי אתכם חזקו ואמצו אל תיראו ואל תערצו מפניהם כי יהוה אלהיך הוא ההלך עמך לא ירפך ולא יעזבך ויקרא משה ליהושע ויאמר אליו לעיני כל ישראל חזק ואמץ כי אתה תבוא את העם הזה אל הארץ אשר נשבע יהוה לאבתם לתת להם ואתה תנחילנה אותם ויהוה הוא ההלך לפניך הוא יהיה עמך לא ירפך ולא יעזבך לא תירא ולא תחת ויכתב משה את התורה הזאת ויתנה אל הכהנים בני לוי הנשאים את ארון ברית יהוה ואל כל זקני ישראל ויצו משה אותם לאמר מקץ שבע שנים במעד שנת השמטה בחג הסכות בבוא כל ישראל לראות את פני יהוה אלהיך במקום אשר יבחר תקרא את התורה הזאת נגד כל ישראל באזניהם הקהל את העם האנשים והנשים והטף וגרך אשר בשעריך למען ישמעו ולמען ילמדו ויראו את יהוה אלהיכם ושמרו לעשות את כל דברי התורה הזאת ובניהם אשר לא ידעו ישמעו ולמדו ליראה את יהוה אלהיכם כל הימים אשר אתם חיים על האדמה אשר אתם עברים את הירדן שמה לרשתה ויאמר יהוה אל משה הן קרבו ימיך למות קרא את יהושע והתיצבו באהל מועד ואצונו וילך משה ויהושע ויתיצבו באהל מועד וירא יהוה באהל בעמוד ענן ויעמד עמוד הענן על פתח האהל ויאמר יהוה אל משה הנך שכב עם אבתיך וקם העם הזה וזנה אחרי אלהי נכר הארץ אשר הוא בא שמה בקרבו ועזבני והפר את בריתי אשר כרתי אתו וחרה אפי בו ביום ההוא ועזבתים והסתרתי פני מהם והיה לאכל ומצאהו רעות רבות וצרות ואמר ביום ההוא הלא על כי אין אלהי בקרבי מצאוני הרעות האלה ואנכי הסתר אסתיר פני ביום ההוא על כל הרעה אשר עשה כי פנה אל אלהים אחרים ועתה כתבו לכם את השירה הזאת ולמדה את בני ישראל שימה בפיהם למען תהיה לי השירה הזאת לעד בבני ישראל כי אביאנו אל האדמה אשר נשבעתי לאבתיו זבת חלב ודבש ואכל ושבע ודשן ופנה אל אלהים אחרים ועבדום ונאצוני והפר את בריתי והיה כי תמצאן אתו רעות רבות וצרות וענתה השירה הזאת לפניו לעד כי לא תשכח מפי זרעו כי ידעתי את יצרו אשר הוא עשה היום בטרם אביאנו אל הארץ אשר נשבעתי ויכתב משה את השירה הזאת ביום ההוא וילמדה את בני ישראל ויצו את יהושע בן נון ויאמר חזק ואמץ כי אתה תביא את בני ישראל אל הארץ אשר נשבעתי להם ואנכי אהיה עמך ויהי ככלות משה לכתב את דברי התורה הזאת על ספר עד תמם ויצו משה את הלוים נשאי ארון ברית יהוה לאמר לקח את ספר התורה הזה ושמתם אתו מצד ארון ברית יהוה אלהיכם והיה שם בך לעד כי אנכי ידעתי את מריך ואת ערפך הקשה הן בעודני חי עמכם היום ממרים היתם עם יהוה ואף כי אחרי מותי הקהילו אלי את כל זקני שבטיכם ושטריכם ואדברה באזניהם את הדברים האלה ואעידה בם את השמים ואת הארץ כי ידעתי אחרי מותי כי השחת תשחתון וסרתם מן הדרך אשר צויתי אתכם וקראת אתכם הרעה באחרית הימים כי תעשו את הרע בעיני יהוה להכעיסו במעשה ידיכם וידבר משה באזני כל קהל ישראל את דברי השירה הזאת עד תמם

The scroll runs right to left. Touch a glowing gap.

Raziel רזיאל

I don't keep the words. I keep the white between them.

Vayeilech is short, and it gave me three spaces.

The first is closed. It comes after Moshe tells the people: be strong and brave, don't be afraid, He will not fail you or leave you. I closed the line around that promise so it would stay where it was. They were going to need it later.

The second is open. It comes after the gathering: their children, who have not known, will hear and learn to fear the Name all the days they live in the land. I opened the whole line, the way you leave the door open when children are coming.

Then everything hard happened with no white at all. The cloud at the door of the tent. The Name telling Moshe he will lie down with his fathers, that the people will stray, that He will hide His face. The song, written that same day. The book set beside the Ark as a witness. Seventeen verses, one after another, and nothing for me to hold. Hiding doesn't leave gaps. It fills them.

The last space is open, after Moshe speaks the words of the song to the whole congregation, to the very end. I opened it wide. The song was about to begin, and a song needs a breath before it.

Rung 8 of 8

The vessel

Sandalfon names what holds it all.

Sandalfon סנדלפון

I don't hold the light. I hold what holds it.

Moshe filled this parsha with my vessels. He wrote the Torah and handed it to the kohanim who carry the Ark. He finished writing it in a book, to the very last word, and had the Levites set it beside the Ark as a witness. Once every seven years, at Sukkot, the whole people would gather to have it read into their ears.

There is a tent, and a pillar of cloud standing at its door while the Name tells Moshe the people will stray.

You looked for the vessel at the Ark, because that's where the book sits. Look at the children's mouths. The Name said: write this song, teach it, put it in their mouths, because it will not be forgotten from the mouths of their offspring. A book can be closed. A face can be hidden. A song a child has learned goes wherever the child goes.

At the gathering the sages ask why the little ones came, since they could not learn and could barely listen. Their answer is that the ones who carried them would be rewarded. I think the children came to be carried, and to carry. Song and prayer have the same number, and the Name put the song in the one place exile can't reach: the mouth of a child who doesn't yet know what it means, and will remember it anyway.

The vesselThe children's mouths

שבת שלוםYou've reached the top of the ladder.

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